The regional efficacy of environmental law in Michigan

Geographers and legal scholars have recently discovered the mutual relevance of each other's research. Within this context the regional efficacy of environmental law has been the focus of this research. As society grows more complex and demands placed on the environment become more severe, extra-legal data and analysis will play increasing roles in formulation of environmental rules and regulation. In order to foster spatial justice in a socially inequal and physically unequal geographic environment, understanding the variation of legal culture in space is paramount.;In this study, the regional efficacy of environmental law in Michigan has been analyzed through the allocation of manpower and the distribution of environmental compliance permits and inspections by six Administrative Divisions of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The results were compared to the cultural composition and the distribution of physical resources of the state at large.;This analysis of environmental law proposes new approaches in the manner of investigation. It renders the following conclusions for the State of Michigan: (a) Population pressure on the natural environment does not correlate with increased environmental regulation. Instead the opposite is true. Those regions with the least amount of population saw the largest amount of environmental regulation. Similarly those regions with the majority of population saw the least amount of regulation. This dichotomous situation was evident between the southern half of the Lower Peninsula and the rest of the State of Michigan as well as between urban and rural settings. (b) Environmental law as exhibited through governmental regulations has greater impact in lesser developed areas than in developed areas. It is the physical nature of an area that appears to determine the regional efficacy of environmental law. Impacts may be greater if population is sparse. (c) Air as a homogeneous, non site-specific natural resource received an evenly distributed legal control effort by the State of Michigan. This corresponds with the previous conclusion that air cannot be more or less valued based on its availability in a regional context.